Monday May 21, 2018

Hey there folks.

We started our day with some sensory play, and using our hands to knead, squeeze, and play around with some magic sand. All the kiddos came to the table again and again to play, but I think it was Cora who by far enjoyed it the most. They even found a way to turn the sensory sand into a musical experience. Check the vid journal, it's a sweet moment I was able to catch. And from an observational perspective, it gives us a glimpse into the pedagogy and practice of giving babes lotz of luv, lotz of free play time, sensory materials, and music. It's magic fer my heart and their developing brain, and oh so adorable. I'd also like to note that Cora takes the time to play the keys everyday, so lets keep nurturing that. When I notice Cora isn't with the rest of the group and I gotta go lookin' fer them, I almost always find them inside sitting at the piano bench, singin' and plunking away at the keys.

It's usually Twinkle~Twinkle.

Along with the sand sensory play, the group worked together to do some magnatile and block building. By mid morning our group moved our play to outside fer the day, where we got into all sorts of play and work.

A friend had brought some blackberries to share with their playschool friends, and everyone was so excited to eat them at our morning snack time. Since our Kiowa Blackberry plants were blooming and fruiting, I thought it a helpful things for these kiddos to take a moment to observe this magical food in all its stages, and all the werk the plants (and the growers) have to do to give us what can be picked up so easily at the market. So we took our bowl of berries and headed to the garden. We took some time to just sit in quiet and observe the flowers, the vines, the thorns, the bees, and the hundreds of berries that are just beginning to form. They looked a lot different at this stage than the berries in our bowl. We talked and joked and ate berries until I was satisfied that everyone, including the babes, had an association between the berries in the bowl and the plants in our garden. And most of 'em should be able to tell you about the cycle : foliage > sun > water> flower> berry > harvest > share> eat :)

After berries the kiddos began a group effort to collect and observe creatures. Since I'm trying to get them to stop digging holes all over the playschool yard and digging up my plants, I pulled back our slip~and~slide out in the meadow, at let them at it. Creatures galore, there were. We practiced our gentle hands and taking good care of the creatures who work so hard to give us the Symphony of the Soil. Being sure to return each one back to the place we found it.

As they got lost in creature finding, I continued the hard work of digging up and removing our goji berry wall that lined the meadow. The plants have given me nuthin' but trouble fer four seasons and I was ready to be done with 'em. It was harder fer the kiddos to understand why I was hurting the plants and there was a whole lotta concern. "Yer killing them Miz Flow!!" I did my best to help them understand that sometimes, we have to make decisions about what to keep werkin' with and what to release so that different and perhaps more endearing things can grow. I think they got it, even if not in all the ways yet. And anyhow, the plants will go top a new home with a new someone taking on the labor of trying to get them to grow right. We worked together to chop the foliage and get the bare roots into a safe place, and everyone got a chance to see, smell, and touch the root systems.

After saying goodbye to the goji's we generated some ideas fer what we would like to see growing in the space next. They had a ton of great ideas. Like cantaloupe. They took a seed from their afternoon snack and collaborated to plant it. They even brought in some heavy machinery. It was curious fer me to watch them work together and just observe and listen. I got a good idea of their knowledge base and how much of their effort was inspired by what they have seen their garden growing grown ups do.

It's working folks! Keep at it!

Today's musical soundtrack provided mostly by

Rachel Baiman's 2014 album, Speakeasy Man.

Cora's parents; please play this for them at home!

They especially loved track 7, 'Thank You Liz Carol'

Enjoy the photo and video journals of our day <3

xo, Miz Flow

Photo Journal